MECHANICS AND HYDROSTATICS. .101 



else inappropriate, as the circle which the weight 

 mould describe, the velocity which it would have 

 if it moved ; circumstances which are not part of 

 the fact under consideration. The influence of such 

 modes of speculation was the main hinderance to 

 the prosecution of the true Archimedean form of 

 the science of Mechanics. 



The mechanical doctrine of Equilibrium, is 

 Statics. It is to be distinguished from the mecha- 

 nical doctrine of Motion which is termed Dyna- 

 mics, and which was not successfully treated till the 

 time of Galileo. 



Sect. 2. Hydrostatics. 



ARCHIMEDES not only laid the foundations of the 

 Statics of solid bodies, but also solved the principal 

 problem of Hydrostatics, or the Statics of Fluids ; 

 namely, the conditions of the floating of bodies. 

 This is the more remarkable, since not only did 

 the principles which Archimedes established on this 

 subject remain unpursued till the revival of science 

 in modern times, but, when they were again put 

 forward, the main proposition was so far from ob- 

 vious that it was termed, and is to this day called, 

 the hydrostatic paradox. The true doctrine of 

 Hydrostatics, however, assuming the Idea of Pres- 

 sure, which it involves, in common with the Mecha- 

 nics of solid bodies, requires also a distinct Idea 



